Trello for Writers

Lately, I've been using Trello a lot at work to track tasks and projects. As often happens when I'm using cool software, I automatically consider how it can be used to improve my writing process. Turns out that with a little creativity, Trello can easily be adapted to be anything you want.

I guess I should start at the beginning. What is Trello? Trello is a task management system, which is a fancy way of saying it's a way to manage your To Do list.

Trello is set up like a bulletin board where you pin cards with each task into a list. Typically, you might have three lists: To Do, Doing, and Done. When you start working on one of your To Dos, you move it to Doing, and when it's completed, you move it to Done.

Of course, the cool thing about cards on a bulletin board is you can make the cards whatever you want them to be, and you can arrange them however you want. That means the ways you can use it are limited only by your imagination.

Trello is very easy to use, but there are some tricks and tips that add extra power, which you can use to improve your writing processes. If it were just about making cards and moving them around on a board, this would be a short post.

In this series of posts, we'll look at ways to use Trello to manage a writing project. We'll use it as a kind of sketching tool to map out our plot, start developing characters, and build our fictional world. I'll also show you how you can use Trello as a way to organize your actual written documents, and to collaborate with others, whether it's a co-writer or your crit partners. And once you have everything written, you can, of course, use Trello to track submissions.

The first thing, of course, is getting it for yourself. That's the easy part. Go to trello.com and sign up. Trello is a web app, so you can use it anywhere you have an Internet connection. In addition to the web app, you can get free apps for iOS and Android. The mobile apps let you do almost everything you can do on the web, except for a number of customization options and some advanced management. You'll probably want to use both the web and the mobile apps.

Trello is completely free. You can create an unlimited number of boards and cards without paying a cent. There are a couple of paid versions, but you probably don't need them. The paid versions give you a few extra features, like emojis you can use as stickers on your cards and the ability to create more personalized backgrounds for your boards. The one bit of functionality that is nice in the paid version is that you can attach bigger files to your cards--the free version limits you to attachments that are 10MB or less--but unless you work with very large files, this really won't make much difference to you. Everything I will show in this series will take advantage of the standard functionality in the free version.

I recommend that you download Trello and get familiar with the basic functionality. Create a test board and some cards and lists. We'll start digging into the details in the next post.

But for now, I've finished this post, so I can move my Intro card to the Done list. Moving a card to Done always feels like a reward!

The Mobile Author, Part Seven: Managing Your Writing Life

• The Mobile Author, Part One: The Portable Office 
• The Mobile Author, Part Two: Getting Organized
• The Mobile Author, Part Three: Managing Your Project
• The Mobile Author, Part Four: Planning Your Story
• The Mobile Author, Part Five: Writing
• The Mobile Author, Part Six: Submissions

Today,  I'll end the series with some tips for using your mobile office to help you manage your writing life. These ideas can help you work better so you can achieve your writing goals.

Make It a Habit

One common problem for those of us who try to work writing in with our busy lives is making the time to write. Unfortunately, nobody has made an app yet that adds a couple hours to the day or makes our day jobs go away or extends the kids' nap time. However, there is a class of apps that enforces good habits and helps to break bad habits. These can be used to remind us to write, and to check our progress against our goals.

Apps like HabitBull (Android, free) and Way of Life (iOS, free for three habits, $3.99 for more) let you set goals. These apps can be configured with whatever parameters you want. Use them to cut down your soda intake, or to spend more time doing something you love, like writing. For example, if you want to write three days a week, you can set a habit reminder that asks you every day if you have written. You wouldn't want to disappoint your tablet, right?

 The Habit Editor in HabitBull

In addition to yes/no goals like whether you wrote today, you can set number-based goals. Want to write 1,000 words a day? Set that up as a habit, then set a reminder each night that asks you how many words you wrote. 

Each habit app is a little different, so look for one that will suit your goals. 

Keeping Focused

To meet your goals, you need to stay focused.

One simple use for your tablet or, especially, your phone, whether you're mobile or stuck at the office is a timer. A timer can you keep you focused. Make a goal to write for a solid hour without checking Facebook or email or grabbing another root beer float at your favorite cafe, then set a timer and don't stop writing until it goes off.

There are tons of timer apps, and they all do what a timer does, so really it probably doesn't matter which one you use. Two I like on Android are Timers4Me+ and Timely Alarm Clock. Both support multiple timers, alarms, and include a stopwatch. Again, I'm not sure what to recommend for your iPad or iPhone, but it really doesn't matter much. A timer is a timer. You can make it pretty, give it fancy options, or whatever, but in the end, it keeps track of time and lets you know when time is up.

Track Your Progress

Anybody who has learned about goal-setting has learned that an important part of meeting your objectives is to make your goals measurable. The apps I've mentioned so far will help you do that. But another way to measure your goals is to track your progress.

The Writeometer app for Android helps you meet your goals. It includes a timer and a writing log, and gives you rewards (guavas) if you meet your goals. For every writing project, you can set your total word count goal and your daily writing goal, and you can set a deadline date. Then, you can set reminders to kick you in the pants. By gamifying your goal tracking, Writeometer keeps you more engaged, and helps you feel good when you accomplish what you set out to do.

Writeometer log

If your goals are fairly basic, such as writing 50,000 words in November, you might like an app like NaNoProgress, also for Android. The concept is simple: enter your wordcount for each session and the app displays a bar showing your progress toward 50,000 words.

Those apps are great for Android users, but what about authors who use an iPad or iPhone? They have options as well, such as Word Tracker. I didn't find anything quite as fancy or fun as Writometer, but all you need, really, is a place to enter your goals and measure your progress.

 Keep a Journal

Finally, many Utah writers come from a background where keeping a journal is encouraged. A writing journal (see "The Writer's Journal," a post on this blog from way back in 2009), helps you be accountable to yourself, and helps you vent those natural writing insecurities so they don't build up inside you. You can track your objectives, note ideas and problems that need to be fixed, and remind yourself where your next session is supposed to start. 

Writeometer includes simple journaling functionality, and the app stores include tons of journal apps. You can use one of those, or you can use the note apps or writing apps we've already talked about in this series. You don't need anything fancy. The only thing you need is something you like writing in so you are motivated to keep your journal.

And So...

There you have it, pretty much everything you need for the well-equipped mobile office. By choosing the approach that works best for you at each step of the writing process, you can easily break the chains of a desk and write wherever inspiration hits you best. Or, if you still do most of your writing in your office (I call my home office my Schreibwinkel), you have everything you need if an idea strikes while you are on the road. Your writing comes from your own brilliant mind, so doesn't it just make sense to have your office wherever that mind of yours happens to be? Even if you prefer the routine of writing in the same place every day, sometimes the best cure for writer's block is a simple change of scenery. If your computer screen becomes the intimidating monster that sucks your creative juices, get away from it for a while.

I hope you have enjoyed this series, and that it helps you to be more productive. The key to writing, it is said, is putting your butt in the chair. But nobody says it always has to be the same chair in the same place. It's 2014. You don't have to lash yourself to a desk anymore. Enjoy your freedom and let the words flow wherever they come to you.

The Mobile Author, Part Six: Submitting

• The Mobile Author, Part One: The Portable Office 
• The Mobile Author, Part Two: Getting Organized
• The Mobile Author, Part Three: Managing Your Project
• The Mobile Author, Part Four: Planning Your Story
• The Mobile Author, Part Five: Writing

So far in this series about going mobile, we've seen how to set up your mobile office so you have everything you need wherever you are, how to use your mobile devices to organize your projects, plan them, and write them. But once you've written your work, it's time to submit. So, today I'm going to discuss how you can use your tablets and phones to track your submissions.

There are online submission trackers, such as The Writer's Database and Duotrope. They work well, but they are set up using somebody else's system. You are a mobile author. You are free. You can do what you want, where you want. So why would you want to use somebody else's system when you can create a system that works the way you like, and keep it in your pocket, purse, or backpack?

I'm going to suggest three options for doing it your way. You might have something else that works for you. Whichever approach you choose, the important thing is that you have it with you wherever you decide to work today.

Spreadsheet

The word spreadsheet causes fear and trepidation among my fellow office workers everywhere. But a spreadsheet does not have to be feared. Turns out, spreadsheets are actually a pretty good way to keep track of stuff. I use one to track my own submissions.

My submissions spreadsheet for each project is pretty simple. I have columns for the agent's name, the agency, the agency's website, contact info (the address or email address I used to submit), the date I submitted, the date I heard back, the date I (fingers crossed!) sent the partial or full, the date I heard back again, and a column for notes or comments. That's it. As I submit, I enter all of that info in the next available row.

Several rows below the submission records, I have a list of agents I might submit to in the future, with all of the info but the submission and reply dates. When it's time from the next round of submissions, if I don't already have somebody in mind, I draw from that list. If you like to sort your spreadsheet by different columns, you might prefer to keep your list of potential submissions on a separate page.

This is easy to do from your mobile office. You can use either a Google Spreadsheet or use the spreadsheet function of your mobile office suite. Google Spreadsheet was made even more viable on April 30 with the release of the Google Sheets app, which eliminates the requirement to be online. I highly recommend Google Docs for this task, but either option works.

Bulletin Board

Spreadsheets work great for tracking submissions, but they are not exactly a delight to use. You might prefer a more visual approach. For that, I recommend Trello, which I've mentioned before. Trello gives you a visual bulletin board where you can easily see the state of your submissions.

Dragging an agent record from "To Submit" to "Submitted" in Trello

I haven't used Trello to track submissions, but if I did, it would be pretty simple. I'd create a card for each agent I wanted to submit to. I'd sort the cards in stacks called something like To Submit, Submitted, Rejected, Requests, and Accepted. I could track multiple projects on one board by color-coding each story. That approach would give me a quick view of what's going on with my submissions. It might be a little harder to see whether I'd already submitted to a particular agent than a spreadsheet would, so I'd have to pay attention to that.

The card approach has advantages over the spreadsheet besides being visual. You could put all kinds of info on the cards, like snippets from websites or interviews you want to use to personalize your queries, or copies of the responses you receive. Bulletin boards are very free-form, so you can pretty much do whatever works for you.

Database

If spreadsheet is a scary word, database might trigger a full-on panic attack. But it doesn't have to. A database is a good way to organize stuff, and once you set it up, can work very well. A database record is really just an index card or Rolodex card with the info you need to keep track of, except that your pile of cards is sortable by any piece of info.

The difficult part is setting up the database, but it's not that hard. If you are an uber-organizer, you might not find a better approach.

Android users who are into this kind of fancy-pants thing might try the free Memento Database app to set up a database. iPad users apparently don't have access to Memento, but they have other options. I didn't notice any obvious free choices in the App Store, but there are plenty of database apps.

Next Step

So far, this series has shown how to set up and organize your mobile office, and how to manage your writing project from the planning stages through submission. Next week, we will discuss some apps that will help you manage your writing life.

The Mobile Author, Part Seven: Managing Your Writing Life

The Mobile Author, Part Five: Writing

• The Mobile Author, Part One: The Portable Office 
• The Mobile Author, Part Two: Getting Organized
• The Mobile Author, Part Three: Managing Your Project
• The Mobile Author, Part Four: Planning Your Story

Setting up the world's greatest mobile office, getting organized, and planning a story are of very limited value if you don't actually sit your butt in a chair and write. Only, for a mobile author, that chair could be a beach towel or a quiet corner in a cafe.

For most of the history of tablets, they were OK for writing, but not really that great. Recent advances in the tablet world have changed that. Now you can pretty much do anything writerly on a tablet, or even a phone (if you have the eyes for it), that you can do on a laptop.

As I did in the first article in this series, I highly recommend that you buy a Bluetooth keyboard if you're going to do any serious writing on a mobile device. You need real keys and something approaching full size if you're going to be typing for any extended period of time. Because there's such a wide range of keyboard styles, you'll want to find one you like at a store, if you can, even if you actually buy it online. I like my Perixx keyboard because it has full-sized keys and folds into a convenient hard-cased package that's great for a backpack or bag. And, it works with all of my devices.

You might prefer a cool keyboard case made specifically for your tablet, which essentially turns your tablet into a little laptop. Or, you might like one of the compact keyboards, trading full-sized keys for the convenience of a small package.

A keyboard is to the writer what shoes are to the runner. You want something comfortable and durable that's not going to kill your joints. If your feet hurt after typing, you're probably doing it wrong, but the hand is a delicate thing.

Once you have your keyboard, you're ready to start writing. When it comes to word processing, you have a wide range of options.

Note Apps

A note app like Evernote is great for writing early drafts. In the early stages of a project, formatting doesn't matter. Styles don't matter. All that matters is getting words on (virtual) paper. You could use one of the note apps we recommended in an earlier article, or you can download any of several distraction-free text editors that block out everything but the page. The app stores are full of note apps. Turns out that many classes that teach app programming include a notepad lesson, and many of those eventually find their way to the app stores. There's a wide range in quality and usefulness, so you'll have to find something you like. But if you followed the earlier recommendation, you already have Evernote. It's great, easy to use, and syncs everywhere.

Web Apps

There are several Web apps for writers out there. The best known (and for good reason) is Google Docs. Google Docs gives you a word processor with most of the features you'll ever need for all but the very final draft of your masterpiece. For that last draft, I still recommend Word or LibreOffice for final formatting. But when you're just writing, Google Docs is sufficient. As of April 30, Docs has become an even better option for writing. There are now apps for both iOS and Android that enable you to work in Docs right on your device, even if you are not connected to the Internet. When you connect again, your files are automatically saved online. These new apps eliminate the biggest obstacle to using Docs as your mobile writing tool, the requirement to be online.

As an added benefit, Google Docs works great for online critiques. Simply share a link to your document with your critique partners and they can easily leave their comments.

I love Google Docs. I was skeptical at first, but after I used it a few times for my day job, I recommended that my writing group start using it for online critiques. Now I use it a lot. The web interface is good, and there are apps to make it easy to use on any mobile device. One of these days, maybe I'll write a series of articles about using Google Docs and some of the cool tips I've picked up over the last couple years.

Office Suites

If you want to do some serious word processing, web apps aren't your only option. Full office suites are a growing category in the app stores.

If you have a recent version of Microsoft Office, you can use the Office app available for iPhones and Android phones. It's not yet available on tablets, though, so you'll have to go to your favorite app store to find an office app to your liking. 

 

A Microsoft Word file in OfficeSuite Pro 7

My favorite is OfficeSuite Pro 7 from MobiSystems. You can use OfficeSuite to create or edit Microsoft Word files. Other parts of the suite will handle your Excel and PowerPoint files. OfficeSuite integrates with several cloud services, including Google Drive, SkyDrive, and Dropbox, among others. That means you can edit files stored on those cloud services. As long as you're connected, anyway. Now, you can't really say it's fully compatible with Microsoft Office. If your document has complicated formatting, you might run into issues in OfficeSuite Pro. 

There is one other issue with this suite. It's not free, and I really love free. It is usually $14.99 on the Google Play store and the Amazon App Store, although both occasionally discount it and Amazon sometimes offers it as the Free App of the Day. On the day I'm writing this, the Apple App Store has it on sale for $1.99. But that's not the Pro version, which is, as far as I can tell, available only on Android. Fifteen clams is pretty pricey for an app, especially if you've never used it and don't know how you'll like it on your device, but it's not much to pay for an office suite that you'll use just about every day. On May 21, they released a free version that is missing a few less-essential features and includes ads, but it's a nice way to test it out before you buy.

There are several similar suites available in the app stores. I'm not as familiar with the offerings in the Apple App Store, so I don't want to sound like I'm recommending any of them. iPad users I know use Pages ($9.99 in the App Store), and seem happy with it. But on Android, I've played around a little with a few free apps, and they work, although I like OfficeSuite Pro for its syncing and its interface.

One popular free suite that's really pretty good is Kingsoft Office. It too can sync with popular online services and provides good editing tools on Android. Kingsoft has recently been released for iOS, but as of this writing it can only open and read Word files, not edit them.

Other free suites worth trying on Android are Google Quickoffice, Olive Office Premium, and Polaris Office. All three are also in the Apple App Store, but I haven't tried them so I can't recommend one as better than the others on that platform. 

One interesting Android App that I don't think is ready for prime time yet but is worth watching is AndrOpen Office. This is a full port of OpenOffice to Android, an idea that I love. But so far, I find it slow and awkward to use. It's promising, but to be worth considering as a daily writing tool, an all-new tablet-oriented user interface would be nice, rather than simply bringing the OpenOffice interface over to Android. This app is being updated, so it might become a better choice in the future.

To summarize this important category, I recommend OfficeSuite Pro for Android and Pages for iOS. But workable free options are available, at least for Android.

Next Step

Once you've written and revised your masterpiece, it's time to submit it to agents and editors. Next time, we'll look at using your mobile office to track your submissions.

The Mobile Author, Part Six: Submissions
The Mobile Author, Part Seven: Managing Your Writing Life

The Mobile Author, Part Four: Planning Your Story

• The Mobile Author, Part One: The Portable Office 
• The Mobile Author, Part Two: Getting Organized
• The Mobile Author, Part Three: Managing Your Project

Even pantsers need to do some planning. Today I'm going to tell you about some apps that can help the mobile author plan a story.

Notes

There are many ways to plan a story. My favorite is to make notes that summarize key events in the story. The note apps I described in last week's article are perfect for that. But there are some other useful tools that you might find helpful, depending on your work style.

Outline

Many writers like to start with a detailed outline. I'm not one of them, but for this article, I looked for a good outlining app. Outliner seems to be almost perfect for you Android-using planners. It enables you to make a detailed outline, and even create a task list based on the outline. If you're an outliner, you might try this app. I also see several outlining apps in the Apple App Store for a variety of prices. Let us know if one of these works for you.

Mindmap

I admit it, I like mindmaps. I've used them to organize projects for my day job. I've also used them to help me spawn ideas by creating word associations and following character traits through a map. If you want ideas for using mindmaps to create a novel, you might start with this article.

 A character mindmap in SimpleMind Free

There are several mindmapping tools you can try, but the one I've used on my tablet is called SimpleMind for Android. SimpleMind is also free in the Apple App Store, so iOS mindmappers rejoice.

SimpleMind is easy to use, even on a small screen. It's easy to create nodes and move them around, and the mind maps are simple but attractive. I haven't tried syncing a map or saving to Dropbox. You're more likely to want to use this on your tablet than your phone because the bigger screen is nice, so syncing between devices might not matter much unless you have more than one tablet.

Whiteboard

The whiteboard is a perfect tool for story building. What can be better than a blank slate and colorful pens? You can free-associate thoughts and words, make mind maps, do whatever. When you have a blank white board, you have no limits.

I've been playing with a whiteboard app called SyncSpace Shared Whiteboard (Android and iOS). In addition to being a cool whiteboard with the features you'd expect and infinite zoom in an out, you can share your board across devices, including over the web, for collaborating. It's free for Android. The iPad version will set you back $9.99, but you get significant additional features.

There are tons of whiteboard apps for both Android and iOS. This is another app category where the best thing to do is try a few and decide what works for you. Go to your app store and search for "whiteboard." If you find a favorite, let us know.

Bulletin Board

I mentioned Trello in the previous article in this series. Trello is essentially a bulletin board that you use to pin and organize cards. Like a real index card, a card has two sides that can contain anything you want it to, and you can organize your cards in a list, which is basically a bunch of cards pinned together in a column.

Think of the possibilities. You could have a card for each character and include whatever information you want, including a picture. Then, keep all of your character cards in the character list. Or, you could write a summary of each scene on its own card, then organize the scenes in order or into chapters. You could easily rearrange scenes, add new ones, or discard them into a discard list.

Because Trello is a Cloud application, all you have to do is set up an account and install the app, and your cards are available wherever you are, on any device.

Storyboard

Back in December, I wrote a detailed review of the Cardboard index card app and how it can be used for storyboarding. I'm happy to say this app has gotten even better since then, with better terminology and some interface changes. Best of all, the plug-in that included card styles for writers is no longer needed because those cards have been added to the main app. There are cards to help with common story elements, plot in traditional acts, or follow the journey of the hero.

If you like storyboarding with index cards, or if you like the storyboarding feature in programs like Scrivener, Cardboard could become one of your go-to apps in your mobile office.

Next Step

Next week, I'll get down to the nitty-gritty with some suggestions for using your tablet to actually write your story. I'll discuss some full office suites, some minimalist text editors, and some ways to use the features of your mobile office to keep you focused on meeting your writing goals.

The Mobile Author, Part Five: Writing
The Mobile Author, Part Six: Submissions
The Mobile Author, Part Seven: Managing Your Writing Life

The Mobile Author, Part Three: Managing Your Project

• Part One: The Portable Office 
• Part Two: Getting Organized

Once your work space is organized, you'll want to organize your work life and your projects.

It helps to think of a writing project as a job. Not the boring 9 to 5 kind, but rather a totally awesome job with the hours that work best for me. And, being a mobile author means I can write wherever I want to. I can write in an office or den if I want to, and that's often the best place to do it. But, if I want to, I can also go to a cafe or coffee shop, or I can work from a hotel room, or on the plane, or a train. I'm mobile; I can do what I want.

A calendar, a notebook, and a task manager should give you everything you need to stay on track.

Wunderlist task manager app

Calendar

If you treat writing as a job, you'll want at least the basic organization tools. A good calendar is a must.

There are many calendar apps, many of them free. You might be happy with the one that came on your phone or tablet, or you might want to experiment a little with other apps until you find one you like better. As always, check reviews and feature lists to make sure the calendar you choose is going to work for you.You'll want to make sure your calendar can sync with the calendar for your day job, if you have one. You'll also want it to sync with your personal calendar, like a Google calendar or iCal.

Use your calendar to schedule deadlines, even if those deadlines are no more than personal goals. You can also use it to remind you of local writing events, conferences, signings, and presentations. If you are in a writing group, you might use your calendar to keep track of your group meetings, with reminders to prepare your chapter for critiquing. A shared calendar, like a Google calendar, used by all members of your group, is perfect.

Notebook

You're also going to want a good notebook. My definition of a good notebook is one that you like to use so much that you actually do.

For me, that means having the ability to keep multiple notebooks so I can place certain types of notes in the right notebook. It also means being able to search the notes so I can find what I want. Finally, I prefer a notebook that syncs across devices without me having to remember to copy my notes. Or having to remember to do anything at all, really.

I find it useful to keep two kinds of notebooks, a fancy robust one for serious note keeping and a lighter notebook for quick notes. Kind of like a composition book and a stack of stickies.

One of the most popular apps in all of appdom is Evernote. Evernote is one of those rare apps that has the ability to be almost everything for almost everybody. You can store ideas and notes, write a whole scene, store photos, record voice notes, draw diagrams--you name it, you can do it in Evernote. Evernote lets you create your own organization style, with notebooks for each project, for your ideas, or whatever you need your organizational style to be to actually stick with it. And of course, everything you put into Evernote is automatically available everywhere you have the app, as well as on the computer in your home office. You can put an icon or widget on your device for easy access. And it's available for Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac. And it's free, although you can also pay for additional features and more storage space. You want this app.

If you have a recent version of  Microsoft Office, you likely have Microsoft OneNote, which is very similar to Evernote. I use both, although I tend to use OneNote more for my day job. If you have it, use it. It works well, and has a handy app for most major devices.

There are many other note apps, so if you want to try another one, check out your app store. You might want something that looks more like a paper notepad, for example. Many notebook apps let you save to Dropbox or Google Drive so your notes are available wherever you need them.

In addition to a robust notebook, I like having a second app for quick notes. Although you can use Evernote or OneNote, I find it convenient to use a smaller notebook. The iPad and iPhone come with a good note pad, but Android somehow neglected to add one. The recently released Google Keep fills that hole. I use Keep for short reminders, pictures, or short voice notes. Notes are stored on Google Drive, and are synced with any device where I've installed the app. It can't compare to Evernote or OneNote for sheer awesomeness, but it's a good part of my mobile writing toolkit, and it's a perfect app for that smart phone you always have with you.

Just remember the number one requirement that I mentioned above: a good notebook is one you like to use so much that you actually use it.

Task Manager

The third app you'll want is a good task manager. You could use your notes app for tracking tasks. Evernote and Google Keep are both good for checklists of tasks.

The best task managers, though, give you more than a checklist. The ideal task manager lets you create and track subtasks, the many little tasks that need to be done to complete a larger task. It also syncs with your calendar. Of course, it goes without saying that you can access your lists from anywhere and from any device. And, it's a joy to use, so you'll use it.

Two of the most popular task managers that meet my criteria, both available for Android and iOS, are Wunderlist and Any.Do. Both are free.There are many others, so find the one that does what you need.

For a task manager that goes beyond to-do-lists, especially if you are visually oriented, you might try Trello, which I've recently discovered. Think of it as a bulletin board (or as many bulletin boards as you need) where you can pin cards for each task or group of tasks, and move the cards around as you work on them. For example, if a card is in your to-do stack, you can move it to your Doing stack while working on it, and when you finish that task, you can move the card to your Done stack. If you are collaborating with another author or an illustrator, or want to review your plans with your writing group, Trello includes collaboration features that let you share and work on your boards with others. Trello works on pretty much anything, either through the mobile app or a web browser. You'll see this app mentioned more than once in this series.

By the way, your smart phone is a great place to keep your task manager. Most task managers don't require a large screen, and you probably have your phone with you all the time.

Next Step

Now that your portable office is ready and you're set up to manage your projects, you can start to plan your story. Come back next week to find out how to use your mobile device as a convenient story planning tool.

The Mobile Author, Part Four: Planning Your Story
The Mobile Author, Part Five: Writing
The Mobile Author, Part Six: Submissions
The Mobile Author, Part Seven: Managing Your Writing Life

The Mobile Author, Part Two: Getting Organized

The Mobile Author, Part One: The Portable Office

Today, I'm going to cover some mobile apps you can use to manage your mobile workspace.

Organizing Your Workspace

A phone, tablet, or computer quickly becomes a disorganized pile of apps and files. You'll want to make it easier to find your things. It's the difference between having an organized workbench in your garage with all your tools sorted and safely stowed away and having your hammers and screwdrivers scattered throughout your house, stuffed into kitchen junk drawers, or hiding with the dust bunnies under the bed. I know that last "organization" method all too well.

When setting up your mobile writing space, the goal should be to have everything--writing programs, manuscripts, notes, schedules, files, and contacts--as readily available as they would be if you were sitting at your desk. Because you're packing everything into a smaller space, you might even discover that you can be more efficient with a tablet than you can be with all your stuff stacked in piles in and around your desk.

If your device provides multiple pages, take advantage of them. Keep all the icons for your most frequently used writing apps on one page so you don't have to search for them. If your device supports folders, use them to further organize your stuff. If folder support isn't built-in, there's an app for that.

Create shortcuts to your favorite websites (like, ahem, this blog) and keep them handy. Use an app like Pocket to store info you find on the Web so it's handy, even when you are not connected.

Apps that you want to access quickly, like your camera and your note-taking app, should never be more than a tap or two away. If you have to search for anything you need in your mobile office, you could probably organize your workspace better.

Your organization scheme should be a natural extension of the way you work, and will differ from person to person, but the key to a successful mobile office is keeping everything you need within easy reach. You should never have to look for anything.  It's just there.

Your Filing Cabinet

Of course, you'll want to have your files wherever you go. You can carry a flash drive or external hard disk (with an OTG cable, if you use a tablet) with you, but the cloud is perfect for storing essential files. If you use Google Drive, Dropbox, or a similar service, your files are available anywhere without requiring you to carry more stuff with you. 

If you have a file on one device but not the others, you can use a Bluetooth program, such as the aptly named Bluetooth File Transfer app, to copy the file between devices.


An app like Android's AirDroid is essential if you want to manage your mobile devices from your computer, including moving files around, without even plugging in a cable from the device to the computer. I don't know if there's a similar app on iOS devices, but if you use Android, this one is a must.

Manage your mobile device wirelessly with AirDroid

And, if you really want to get fancy, you can use a remote access app, such as PocketCloud (Android or iOS), to actually access your Windows or Mac computer from your mobile device. With one of these apps, your tablet or phone becomes a sort of remote control for your "real" computer. You can run programs on your computer and edit that file you forgot about, then transfer it to your Dropbox so it's available wherever you are.  You could even remotely access your computer, find the file you need, and use AirDroid to transfer the file directly to your tablet. These kinds of programs tend to run slower than using the computer itself, and feel a little glitchy, but they're great when needed--as long as your computer is turned on, even if you're not home. If you're computer is off or asleep, you can't access it.

The recently released Google Remote Desktop also lets you access your computer from your mobile devices (Android and iOS). It's similar to PocketCloud, but feels a little less laggy. There are some things I can do on PocketCloud that I haven't figured out yet on Remote Desktop, like keyboard combinations, and the way you move the cursor around is odd for a touch screen app, but it looks promising. Unlike PocketCloud, with Remote Desktop you can use your tablet and your computer at the same time, if you ever need to. Whatever you do on your remote desktop also shows up on your computer's screen.

Next Step

Now that your portable office is ready and organized, you'll want to organize your work. Come back next week to find out how to use your mobile device to track your time and your tasks, and to keep your project notes handy.

The Mobile Author, Part Three: Managing Your Project
The Mobile Author, Part Four: Planning Your Story
The Mobile Author, Part Five: Writing
The Mobile Author, Part Six: Submissions
The Mobile Author, Part Seven: Managing Your Writing Life